More on cooking. This chapter, baking bread.

Everyone must eat, this is a given.

Man (human, not just the guys) cannot live on bread alone. Regardless of current dietetic fads, fresh bread is a major yum factor.

Baking bread takes time.

You say you don't have time?

Get over it. Take time. Make time.

The very ritual of making and baking bread is, in itself a stress reducer.

Choosing the recipe.

The gathering of the ingredients.

The melding of these ingredients to the mass of lifeless dough, so soon to be a loaf, a batch of rolls, a breakfast delight.

The waiting time. For the dough to rise takes that precious commodity, time.

Hey, you probably need to vacuum and clean the bathroom anyway, right? (Please wash your hands after.)

Once the first rising is done, you get to punch the dough down! Fun times!

Kneading is very good for your stress, I suggest making Italian bread if you're especially stressed as too much kneading will make for a tougher crust.

Leave the cinnamon rolls for non-stress-filled times, trust me on this.

On that:

My recipe for cinnamon rolls (Doesn't include a trip to the mall)

First gather your ingredients:

2 pkgs of fast-rising yeast
1 1/2 cups milk, heated to 110 degrees
1/4 cup salted butter (don't substitute margarine, please)
4 tblsp sugar
1 egg room temperature, beaten slightly
5 cups flour, sifted (or not, most flour is pre-sifted anyway)

Melt the butter in the hot milk.
Mix together 4 cups of the flour with the yeast and sugar,
Stir in the milk/butter mixture and the egg.

Add additional flour until you have a soft, but not sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, adding flour as you go from the remaining cup, or until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Cover and let let rise until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down, literally, punch it hard to let out the built up gasses.

Knead for a minute or so then form into a ball and roll out into a rectangle, approximately 9x13.

Filling:

1 stick butter, very soft, but not melted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsps ground cinnamon.

Spread the butter over the rolled out dough to the edges.

Mix together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle heavily all over.

Don't worry too much about getting it perfectly even. Or at all even.

Roll the dough up from the long side, pinching the edges together to seal.

Cut into 1 inch sections with a VERY sharp knife.

Place rolls into a 9x13 well buttered pan, about an inch apart.

Make sure there's room for the rolls to rise and spread out.

Cover and let rise until double then bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from pan and drip a glaze of 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar and a tablespoon or two, more or less of milk, over the tops if desired.

You can also substitute orange juice for the milk in the glaze. (YUM factor!)

Feast!

Variation:

Melt 1 stick butter and add 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, plus 1/4 cup REAL maple syrup for maple sticky buns.

Pour into the bottom of the pan before placing rolls in to rise.

When finished baking, place a baking sheet ( cookie sheet works well for this) over the pan and turn it over.

The rolls and mapley-brown sugary goop will NOT all come out, so you may need a helper to clean out the pan. Kids work well for this task, but men seem to like all that finger-licking too.

Again, Feast!